3TB 2x in Raid 1 not seen above 746GB, help!

[ebarone]

Software RAID is just as good... maybe even better since its not controller dependant (read: you can change your hardware at will and not worry about breaking your RAID)

[Hoody_s13]

I've been doing some reading on software RAID, seems like the way to go.

 

I was looking for this answer but didnt find much... what happens when I format my OS drive (120gb SSD) and reinstall windows? Will it automatically detect the drives in raid? And will I get a windows warning on drive failure?

 

Thanks everyone for your help

[ebarone]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think yes and yes. However, being that its RAID 1, it doesnt really matter if the RAID is detected after a reformat does it? The disks will have all the info and you can re-RAID them pretty easily if its not detected.

[Hoody_s13]

I've started too question if I've been goingabout this the right way.

The reason I chose raid 1 is for backup, but on the other hand if a virus rips through the drive then obviously both will be affected.

 

Would it be wiser to set one of the drives up in an external enclosure and backup routinely, then turn the drive off until the next backup. Or leave it inside the computer running all the time, and just perform backups routinely.

 

I think one of these setups is definately more reliable than raid now

[ebarone]

Yes Acronis True Image is what I use, its exeedingly simple. I have 1TB of data disk and 1TB of internal backup disk, the backup disk holds backup images of both my OS and my data incrementally so it can store quite a few. Highly recommended.

[itsernst]

This isn't your boot/OS volume is it? Windows will not install to anything larger than 2TB.

[Hoody_s13]

Problem solved.

With all the raid hicups I've turned too buying an external enclosure for the second 3TB drive and running a backup to that once a week. After I'm done I turn it off and leave it till the next scheduled backup.

A lot easier and can run my onboard sata controllers in AHCI.

 

Too itsernst I'm running the 3TB drive for all my media and documents so no problems with booting, using a 120gb SSD for the boot drive.

 

Thanks everyone for your help

[Guest kingston_laptop]

You are going to have problems right now with anything over 2TB. WD has been very up front about this issue. Currently I think the only way to get around it, is with something like this card as suggested by MJ. Sorry for the bad news, but it is possible to get it working! They actually had similiar problems when the 2TB drives came out!

Not necessarily... I have found a SOLUTION!. Recently I have got 4x3TB WD RED... I have got Asus Rampage II Gene mother board. I have updated latest BIOS. No luck there ... still reported as 746GB.

My goal was to have RAID5 on these 4 drives (non-bootable).

 

Solution part 1: 

 

1. Get the latest Intel Rapid Storage drivers. The driver will allow windows to see full 2.7TB (BIOS will still report them as 746GB) 

 

... now we have got all the drive seen as 2.7TB but even you set up your RAID in BIOS, the drivers will not recognize the RAID and will present all the drives as standalone.

When you run Intel Rapid Storage Manager, no "Create Volume" button is available. 

 

Solution part 2 (easy):

 

- You will need any latest motherboard with Intel Rapid Storage controller, that supports 3TB drives.

- Connect your drives to this motherboard.

- Set SATA to RAID mode.

- In controller BIOS add all your drives to RAID volume (any required... in my case it was RAID5)

- Save the settings, take the hard drives out and connect them to you "old" motherboard. 

- When you start windows, the drivers will see the volume (even in BIOS these drives will be reported as Non-Raid members)

 

Explanation:

 

Why RAID volume created in BIOS that sees the drives as 746GB is not seen in windows with latest drivers ?

 

It